Had my first OBGYN appointment and my doc said the whole stay-under-140 business. I asked why and the response was that there is a switch point where oxygen is stolen from the placenta to fuel mom. I’ve did some light searching and can’t find a research article that says this. Has anyone seen a research article that backs this up?
I do OrangeTheory Fitness and I’ve had 2 classes since and I’m finding it extremely hard to stay under 140 as that’s like the warm up. Today I accidentally got my heart rate up over 160 on the floor lighting weights (not rower). How on earth is one supposed to exercise and not have any kind of heart response
@ruella Not a doctor but i think that’s boomer math. I’ve heard that too but never directly from a doctor or medical professional. It also makes no sense because a 140 bpm would have a totally different effect on a person based on their fitness level.
Pregnancy is definitely a time to deload, listen to your body and rest. But you can also continue to push where it feels good. The Pregnant Athlete was the only book I was able to find that gave some decent advice about month by month pregnancy fitness.
@nol Boomer math but for real. I know she is a great doc, but she definitely is in that age category. I definitely wasn’t expecting to hear a major heart rate restriction so that was discouraging
@nol Yeah this kind of reminds me of how my mother-in-law won’t let me carry or lift anything. Not even groceries I’m 10 weeks and a fitness instructor…I think it’s fine if I carry groceries to and from the car. She’d be horrified if she saw me lifting at the gym or doing inversions in yoga.
You’re fine, just listen to your body. Take a break, sip some water. Exercise is good for you and the baby
@ruella My midwife (who is in her late 60s) said very offhandedly, "oh, you know, maybe don't go over 120 beats per minute" which I took as a sign to ignore anything she said about exercise in pregnancy. I try not to go over 160 but it happens sometimes.
@ruella It honestly made me question everything that came out of her mouth if she's referring to extremely conservative information that's decades out of date
@ruella My doc didn’t give me these guidelines, I’m also not a doctor - but basically most say be careful, don’t “overdue it” into extreme breathlessness, take breaks, stay hydrated etc. They told me it’s not the time to start something new but you can continue most activities BAU
I can only speak to my own experience (+8w’s postpartum now) but I walked daily, did yoga and peloton’d the entire duration of my pregnancy and side effects included a crazy strong baby with amazing lung capacity and screams so loudly
@oldasdirt I was going to say the same here. I’m 28w my doctor hasn’t given me any heart rate range criteria. I’m also in Germany where the “rules and restrictions” criteria for women during pregnancy are a lot less.
I’ve been on the peloton and doing yoga and walking my entire pregnancy. The advice I got was just to try to stay out of a breathless feeling and to scale back when needed and not to overdo it because our heart rates naturally slow down during pregnancy.
@ruella Anecdotal but I’ve done races for my first and third pregnancies, did HIIT workouts etc and every one my babies has been born with perfect oxygen. This is outdated advice I think some docs just default to because it’s easier to make broad generalizations as opposed to truly getting to know each of their pregnant patients.
@ruella I do OTF and spend a lot of time in the red almost every class. I did it last pregnancy too, squat jacks until 38 weeks! My midwife said it was perfectly fine as long as I didn’t have any pain or spotting.
Listen to your body. If anything feels bad you’ll know it’s time to pull back a little bit.
but for real. I know she is a great doc, but she definitely is in that age category. I definitely wasn’t expecting to hear a major heart rate restriction so that was discouraging
